Rise With the Moon
by neuxue
Summary: One night, the Unresolved Sexual Tension between Zuko and Katara turns into...sex. Pretty much PWP. Written for Day 11 of Zutara Month 2012: Intimacy. Rated for smut


_**A/N**__: So...I don't usually write smut. But honestly what else was I going to do with this prompt? Plus I promised I would give it a go. So...here you go. My attempt at Zutara smut._

* * *

Sokka and Suki have taken to disappearing for hours on end. This doesn't bother most of them, but for a little while it had raised some awkward questions, until Toph adopted the strategy of throwing a rock at Aang every time he asked where Sokka was. She says it's for his own good – the war may be won, but his earthbending needs a lot of work. So she and Aang spend a good part of each day chucking rocks at each other, while Sokka and Suki…do whatever it is that they do. This suits Zuko and Katara just fine.

Except that Aang and Toph are using the main courtyard, so it leaves the two of them little space to spar, and watching rocks fly through the air makes them both restless. Zuko also seems to have missed the point of vacation, and is frustrated with not being able to train.

So they find different parts of Ba Sing Se to practice in, occasionally drawing curious crowds, but after a while the people leave them alone. Most often they go to the Firelight Fountain; it seems appropriate. One late afternoon, as the sky is fading towards evening, Zuko lights the candles and they sit on the edge of the fountain, and without really thinking about what she's doing, Katara leans over slightly and kisses him.

She pulls back quickly, blushing, and sees him looking at her in surprise.

"What…" he begins.

"Sorry. I just…um…"

She looks down, but then his hand reaches out to cup the back of her neck, pulling her to him as he kisses her, as softly and tentatively as she had kissed him.

But after a second it is as though they both simultaneously realise what they are doing, and they break apart, looking away from each other, each muttering half-formed apologies.

"I'm sorry, I – "

"No, it's okay, I just – "

"I don't know – "

"We should – "

All it takes is a moment of eye contact before they are both laughing, more out of nerves than anything. _I just kissed Zuko,_ Katara thinks, her mind unable to come up with anything more coherent than that. And yet…_I shouldn't be kissing Zuko_, part of her thinks.

They walk back in silence, and when they return to meet the others, they try to pretend as though nothing happened. Katara is hardly sure if anything _did _happen, what it all means. She can't meet Aang's eyes at dinner.

They don't spar the next day. Katara makes herself busy with shopping and various chores. Zuko goes to meet his uncle. Suki and Sokka decide to train with Toph and Aang, for some reason, rather than disappearing as they usually do. Katara suspects this is to stop Aang from asking why they never practice their fighting if he has to practice his.

She tries not to think of Zuko, but in fact finds it difficult to think of anything else. How his mouth felt on hers, his hand in her hair, the faint sheen of sweat on his bare chest…she shakes her head and tries to put the image out of her mind, but she can't help wondering what it would feel like to kiss him again, to _really _kiss him…

She's restless all evening, once dark falls and the full moon rises. Even after the others have all gone to bed she remains awake, staring out at the moon and feeling its power flowing through her. She toys briefly with the idea of going out to the fountain in the courtyard, but there's not much point in bending by herself. With a sigh, she turns away from the window and heads to the room she shares with Suki.

But as soon as she opens the door, she closes it again and nearly runs down the hallway. That was not something she had ever wanted to see.

Without entirely realising it, she comes to a stop outside Zuko's door. He shares a room with Sokka, but she knows for a fact that Sokka is not there. Before she can talk herself out of it, she knocks gently on the door. A moment later, Zuko opens it, looking at her with eyes still full of sleep. She can't help but notice that he is not wearing a shirt.

"Katara?" he says, frowning at her in confusion.

"Come on, let's spar." He looks even more confused at that, and she can't entirely blame him. But the full moon has put her in a strange mood, and she definitely can't go back to her room right now.

"Spar? Katara it's the middle of the night."

"I share a room with Suki," Katara says, staring pointedly past Zuko to where Sokka's bed stands empty. Zuko turns and follows her gaze, and she sees understanding dawn on his face.

"Oh. Right. Um…yeah, okay, I guess we could…" he runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head, clearly trying to wake himself up, before following her quietly out of the house and around to the courtyard.

When they reach the fountain, Katara takes a deep breath of the night air and smiles, then pulls at the water with both hands to send a wave crashing towards Zuko. His eyes widen but he responds a second later, jumping out of the way of the wave just as she turns it to ice, and sending whips of fire licking towards her.

Even now, dragged from sleep in the middle of the night, he's fast. But while they're well matched at dawn and dusk, under the full moon it's not long before he begins ceding ground to her as she sends waves and whips of water swirling around him, disks and daggers of ice flying towards him. Finally he ends up with his back almost against the wall of the courtyard, and he breathes a jet of fire at her but she swipes it easily away before skating towards him across a sheet of ice and pinning his hands to the wall on either side of him, freezing ice around his wrists so he can't move.

For a second, neither of them does anything but blink at each other. She hadn't quite realised how close she's standing to him. Or that her hands still cover his. She's about to step back when she sees the hint of a smirk on his face, and as he takes a deep breath she knows he's about to breathe fire at her again.

So she kisses him instead. It is her turn to smirk when she pulls away to see that his expression has turned to surprise, and this time when he opens his mouth it seems as though he is going to say something, but she covers his mouth with her own, and his faint groan is answer enough as his lips part against hers. It is nothing like their kiss at the firelight fountain, hesitant and sweet. She moulds her lips to his with desire and a strange sense of daring, and runs her hands down his bare chest, across his shoulders and the hard muscles of his abdomen. His shoulders tense and she pulls away slightly, smiling up at him as she realises that his hands are still frozen to the wall on either side of him.

She leaves them there, and leans in again to taste the skin at his collarbone. His breath hitches but he makes no protest, so she continues kissing his neck, his chest, all the while running her hands across his torso. She lets her hands drift lower, her fingers brushing the skin just under the waistband of his trousers.

"_Agni_ Katara," he says, his voice rough. That and the full moon embolden her, and she runs a hand over the bulge at the front of his trousers. He groans and she smiles up at him as she undoes his trousers and lets them fall to the ground, then slowly lowers herself to her knees in front of him. His eyes are wide in surprise as he looks down at her.

She leans in and slowly licks him from base to tip, and his hands curl into fists as he strains against the ice that has his hands frozen to the wall. Katara just smiles, and then takes his cock in her mouth, sucking gently and swirling her tongue around the tip.

She hardly has any idea what she's doing, but Zuko seems to have lost the ability to form words, so she figures she's doing something right. And with the full moon enhancing her healer's senses, she can feel his heartbeat, his breathing, his arousal, his desire.

As she continues to kiss and lick and suck, he finally melts the ice around his hands and brings them down to fist in her hair. He groans again, and this time tugs gently at her hair to pull her away from him. She looks up at him, questioning.

"Sorry, did I do something…?"

He shakes his head, taking a few breaths before speaking.

"No. You um. I…um. I didn't want to…yet." It is a few seconds before she understands, but then a slow smile spreads across her face.

"Well in that case," she says, and grabs his hips to pull him down in front of her, kneeling with his legs between hers. He kisses her then, pulling her close to him, his hands in her hair, moving across her back, her hips, then under her dress, pushing it up over her. She lifts her arms and allows him to pull it off over her head.

His hands rest on the bare skin of her waist as he kisses her again. Then he begins to undo her wrappings but his otherwise sure fingers are clumsy with the fabric, so she smiles and undoes them herself. He stares for a moment at her exposed breasts before bending to kiss first one, then the other. His lips are hot against her skin as he continues to press kisses between her breasts, then down towards her stomach, and she arches back, resting her weight against her elbows. He follows, covering her body with his own. Then he brings one hand around to her back and gently lays her down on the grass.

Her lower wrappings are much easier to remove than the upper ones, and she lifts her hips off the ground so he can pull them off and cast them aside. Clothed now only in the moonlight, she smiles at him and takes one of his hands in her own, guiding it between her legs.

Spirits, his fingers are hot as he runs them across her folds, sending heat flooding through the rest of her body. And then he slips one, two of those fingers inside her, and the palm of his hand rocks against her clit and she gasps as the fire seems to build in intensity as his fingers press inside her, curling against her tight walls, his thumb circling the small bundle of nerves, causing her to cry out more than once.

And then he leans over, resting his weight on his arms either side of her, to press those burning kisses against her stomach, her neck, her jawline. She arches up towards him as his fingers thrust inside her again, but then his hand is no longer there and she wants to tell him not to stop, but then his legs are pushing hers apart and his cock presses against her entrance. He looks at her, a question in his eyes.

"_Yes_," she says, and reaches down to help position him, and then he pushes inside her. she had thought his fingers were like fire, but it was nothing compared to this. For a moment the sensation crosses into pain and she gasps, but soon her body seems to adjust to this new fullness, and she feels the fire, his fire, building once more within her.

"Okay," she whispers, and he begins to move, thrusting deeper inside her. She moves her hips to his rhythm, hooking her legs around his hips to pull him closer, deeper. She can feel herself approaching the edge, and without even thinking she moves a hand down to where they are joined. Then Zuko kisses her neck on the next thrust and she comes apart, crying out and clenching around him, and she feels his release as well as he gasps and says her name.

She lets her legs drop to the ground and he pushes himself up, then rolls over so they are lying side by side in the soft grass. Her hand finds his and their fingers intertwine and for a long time neither of them speaks.

"I suppose we should thank Suki, really," Zuko finally says, and it sends them both into fits of laughter. When she can breathe again Katara looks over at Zuko, smiling. This isn't a side of him she's ever seen before; laughing, joking, holding hands in the moonlight.

Finally, reluctantly, she gets to her feet, pulling Zuko up along with her.

"Come on," she says, "we should get back before someone notices we're out here."

Zuko nods, and then leans in to kiss her once, a soft, sweet kiss this time, before bending to pull on his trousers. Katara puts her wrappings back on quickly, but doesn't bother with the dress. As they walk quietly back to the house, it occurs to her that her room is most likely still occupied.

"Um…do you mind if I sleep in your room tonight?" she asks.

Zuko smiles. "I'm guessing we have Suki to thank for that too?"

Katara stifles a laugh, and follows him silently through the door and down the hall to the room he should be sharing with her brother. Thinking of where he is right now, she doesn't really want to sleep in his bed, so she looks questioningly at Zuko, who has already laid back down in his. He nods, and shifts over to make room for her.

She falls asleep curled in his warm arms, feeling the solid rhythm of his heartbeat against her back. When she wakes up he is already dressed, sitting at the window. He glances over at her, smiling when he sees that she is awake. She stands and crosses the room to him, and kisses him softly. He runs a gentle hand through her hair, then releases her so she can pull her clothes on and brush her hair until it is closer to presentable.

"I don't think the others are up yet," he says quietly. Katara nods, and the two of them head to the kitchen. There, she searches the cupboards for the tea most girls learn to make not long after they become women. She finds it hidden in the back of one of the top cupboards and dumps a spoonful of the leaves into a cup. Zuko heats the water for her with a smile.

They are just sitting down to eat their breakfast when Toph walks in, still rubbing sleep from her face, her hair sticking up in all directions. She pauses in the doorway, turning her blind eyes from Zuko to Katara.

"And where were you two last night?"


End file.
